Amelia Peabody

Amelia Peabody (c. 1852-?) is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels set in Victorian Egypt and England, written by author Elizabeth Peters. She is married to Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and has one biological child, Ramses Emerson. Her greatest adversary is the Master Criminal, popularly known by his alias Sethos, who is not exactly who or what he seems.

Related Topics:
1852 - Fictional character - Mystery novel - Victorian - Egypt - England - Elizabeth Peters - Radcliffe Emerson - Ramses Emerson - Sethos

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Amelia's adventures begin when she is already over thirty and her father dies, leaving her his entire fortune because she embraced the learning her brothers rejected. This enables her to travel to some of the ancient cities that interest her. En route to Egypt, she visits Rome, where she meets her future friend and companion, Evelyn (later also to become her sister-in-law).

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Her favorite ruin to explore is a pyramid. She usually carries one of her collection of parasols, which she uses as discreet weapons (including a sword-parasol). She is extraordinarily stubborn, utterly convinced she is right, addicted to romance (although she denies it vehemently), and much more sentimental than she admits to. She is also deeply in love with her husband, and he with her, to the point that the Victorian "typographical euphemism" of three asterisks is used quite frequently to indicate that they had sex. Her husband Radcliffe hates the name "Radcliffe" - his mother's maiden name, and his mother, and Amelia always calls her husband simply "Emerson". A favourite expression of hers is "Another shirt ruined..." because Emerson regularly bursts out of his shirt, either in the course of an adventure or in the throes of passion.

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Another feature of the novels is the equalitarian theme, with Amelia and her family being very close to the family of their original Egyptian reis (foreman) Abdullah, to the extent that there is a marriage between Amelia's niece and Abdullah's grandson. Following Abdullah's death, Amelia begins to see him in dreams, where he gives her warnings and advice, further illustrating how close they were. Further on this, Amelia is a proponent of equality between the sexes, and brings up her adopted daughter, Nefret Emerson consequently. Amelia also has no patience with "helpless" women who play on their femininity to manipulate others into doing their will. She is a proponent of rational dress, and often refuses to wear a corset.

Related Topics:
Nefret Emerson - Rational dress - Corset

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The novels are intended as both parody (mostly of the adventure novel, such as written by H. Rider Haggard), and comedy.

Related Topics:
Parody - H. Rider Haggard

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